Why I Have Become Jaded By So-Called “Mistake” Fares

Let me tell you a story. I’ll call it A Tale of Two “Mistake” Fares.

Award Expert focuses on the effective utilization of frequent flyer miles and credit card points, but sometimes it just makes sense to purchase revenue tickets.

Earlier this year, a long-time client wished to treat her nephew and his fiancé to their honeymoon flights. She reached out to me to look. Mileage rates were horrible, but I found a cheap paid business class ticket out of Toronto on Alitalia.

It was late on a Sunday night and I booked the departure date on the wrong day, one day too late. Since this was a ticket originating in Canada, there was no 24-hour courtesy cancellation period. I called Alitalia the following day to see if they would make an exception. The ticket price was identical the day before.

The agent flatly refused. In fact, in typical Alitalia fashion she was rude and almost seemed to delight in the fact that I had made an honest mistake.

Alitala agent: “If I flush, will you go away?”

It would have been one thing to call a week later, but I called 12 hours later. No mercy. The agent insisted upon 450CAD per ticket to make the change. I called back and other agents insisted upon the same price. A rule is a rule, they said.

So I paid it. What could I do? 900CAD to move a date by one day seven months in advance when the ticket price was actually identical and the carrier might not even be around.

That made me very jaded.

Then I booked this Ethiopian Airlines ticket. $763 for business class. My credit card was charged the full amount immediately. The reservation sat intact for weeks. Then all of a sudden I received an email from Ethiopian telling me the fare was a mistake. I’m left with three undesirable choices: pay the “current” price, refund my ticket, or fly in economy class.

Unequal Playing Field

So let me get this straight. I make a careless, but innocent mistake, catch it almost immediately, and an airline refuses to help out and I’m out 900CAD. But when an airline (allegedly) makes a careless but innocent mistake, fails to catch it immediately, and tells me weeks later my ticket is invalid, that is okay?

It just is not right.

Feel free to criticize for me “kicking Ethiopian while they were down” but I dispute that a $763 business class ticket is analogous to a $0 fare. In any case, my moral culpability is not the primary issue: as long as airlines can get away with unilaterally canceling fares weeks after ticketing, they have a tremendous unfair bargaining advantage over consumers.

Part of the reason I am fighting for this Ethiopian fare is to raise awareness over this asinine unequal playing field.

I’m jaded when it comes to so-called “mistake fares”, but for good reason.

About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he
travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120
countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry
and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York
Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News,
CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying
international relations, American government, and later obtaining a
law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel
industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in
the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House.
His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline
industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and
detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on
penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a
highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the
effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles.
Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of
points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the
direction and coordination of company travel.

Hi Matthew. I’m a journalist (with full press credentials, mind you) and I’ve been closely following your saga. This is a truly fascinating story, albeit not as entertaining as Hollywood tabloids. I’d like to report on your story in one of the national outlets. I’ll be reaching out. This is Margaret Gray.

I agree 100%. We need a uniform set of passenger rights in the US. The actual casue of every signficant delay should be disclosed. No more telling us a 2 hour delay is Äir Traffic Control” when its really something the carrier is responsible for. We need to be compensated for airline mistakes like missed connections thta are caused by the carriers. They cant find a seat for you for days? They must be required to buy a ticket on ANY carrier to deliver the transportation you paid for. Paid extra for an aisle seat? Get what you paid for or get a refund

I tend to agree with you, but good luck in the current political climate. Until the US Congress changes significantly, we will have the ‘laissezest’ of laissez-faire capitalism. Heads the airline wins, tails you lose.

I agree with you for Ethiopian, but not for Alitalia. I understand it was late at night but if this was done for a client, at least double check the date! 😉
Also, would it have been possible for your clients to leave one day later? That would have saved you $950CAD and time/stress.

I don’t think Matthew’s point is that he’s entitled to anything for the Alitalia mistake, it’s to point out how the airlines like to talk out of both sides of their mouths when it comes to errors. When you make a careless mistake, you’re expected to pay whatever change fees and fare differences apply in the situation. But when THEY make a careless mistake by misfiling a fare, we’re just supposed to turn the other cheek and allow them to back out of the deal with no compensation, even if they don’t figure it out until weeks later. It’s a classic “heads I win, tails you lose” scenario, and I agree that the airlines shouldn’t be allowed to get away with that.

Ho ho ho, ha ha heh heh, good at that indeed. I agree. I might – might- consider flying Ethiopian if they offered to pay me! Like 500,000 for a 30 minute flight. No, not interested. Pay the money to fly a ‘normal’ carrier. Heck, even LOT would be preferable or Aeroflot!

Consumer protection needed ! Look at what happened on United Airlines, crew violently removed passengers with valid tickets…the outcome, huge PR damages at a greater expense compared to offering a couple of free tickets as motivation to encourage passenger to accept the mistake created by the airline to overbook flights to enhance profits (insane that that’s legal)